Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-01-22
REHEARSING THE kIRMES.

REHEARSING THE kIRMES.
The Dances as They Appear Without
Their Gorgeous surroundings.
In a long empty hall over a dairy establishment
appear the Kirmes in embryo. The scenery con-
s1sts of sheets OF plain white canvass stretched
along the walls, and immense curtain OF the
same material divides the dancers from the audi
ence which consists OF the ladies interested In the
enterprise. Here the dancing master rubs Oh the
rough and trains TO attitudes Of grace. He bangles
his hands In the air to the time OF the music and
swaying his body with an easy motion, giides
about the hall to show them how to do 1t. Young
ladies and gentlemen and little children in street
costumes, mimicking the master, troop across the
hall upon their toes with fancy steps, wind in and
out and pose. in the various fancy dances. 1t is
the Kirrnes stripped OF its bright surroundings it's
gay costumes and glamour. II is the kfrmeS in
the rough. The dancers are drawn up in line at
the extreme end of the hail. and the master faces
them from distance.
DRILLING THE DANCERS.
"One,n he cried, and a line OF dainty feet leap
forward. Then he waves his hands and swings
his body In time to the music and the merry throng
come towards him with q graceful swaying mo-
ton. suddenly he claps his hands and the whole
line stops as II ShOt. Some one has not done 1t
quite right and they all go back to dOft again.
This time there is perfect grace and the dancers go
through the figure, winding up with tableau.
'.Ah, that is well! Only-ah, Mademoisele's arm
Is too Stin or MademOiSelle'S chin is pointed too
abruptly in the ART" The master bends the wrist
softens down the angle OF the chin. Perfect!
''Four!" he cries, and the tableau melts away the
and over again they go through the figures, the
dancers mn1c1ng the motion OF the master as IL
magic made them mind the movements of his
hands. Even with the dancers in street dress Of
various styles unsufted TO the figures, the dances
are beautiful In the flower dance the dancers
range in size from little tOddler OF four or five
girls are the .'fOwers;" the little ones are The
bees" and they make buZZing with their
the tableauS the dancers form flowers. The .'bees"
are the embodiment OF motion, and the master
finds It hard to keep them still. The dancers in all
the other figures are young ladies or gentlemen
grown.
THE FIGURES.
All the figures are pretty, as are most of the
young ladies', and careful training has made the
performance almost perfect With between thirty
and out through a perfect maze, stopping now
and then in a tableau and then melting into the
dance again. Some of the dancers as in the
gypsy ana Normandy dances, are so well suited TO
their parts by form and feature as to look well
even without the proper costumes. In the flower
dance one little ''bee," scarcely more than a
and, getting out again, would run after the rest
OF the "bees" as fast as her fat little legs would
shoulders and buzzing vigorously. All the figures
are beautiful and some OF the performances are
marvels OF grace. Before the perfection has been
attained there has been a long and tedious trt1n-
Ing. Even a pretty good dancer, as dancing goes,
would cut sorry figure in the kirmes, without
have gone through the careful course OF training.
A TERPSICHOREAN MAZE.
The KrmeS dancers almost make lOOker-On
dizzy; novice who attempted to tread the maze
would be lost. The arms Of beginner are all at
angles, her neck has hinge in it, and no two OF
her members can move at the same time. She
Sways by first moving her foot on a straight line
W0hNllnU shaking
the air like the arm OF WINDMILL afterwards. She
cocks her head on one side like sparrow and
ShufleS SidewlSe like crab. Before she can be-
come kirmes dancer she must be flexible all over
the wind.
All these dancers have reached the willowy state
where they may be twisted and braided into all
sorts OF d1f1erent forms and shapes.
Among the participants In the dances not here
tOIore noted In The STAR Will be the following:
HOLLANDAISE.
Chairman: Mrs. Speaker Carlisle. Aids-Mrs.
Lawrence Weldon, Mrs. G. Fl. Wilcox, Mrs. Francis
Cotton, Mrs. Gen. VIM. Birney, Mrs. DR.. s. s.
Stearns, Mrs. LII. Maynard, Mrs. Barton D. Jones,
MIS-; ); c: Gete Ten; and Mrs j. J: Edison. Dancers
l. Jones and Miss Lena Stearns. The rest are
Misses Cook, Williams. Elliott, Gray, Barbour,
johnson, Maloney. Springer, Peachey, sykes, and
chell.
SWEDISH.
Mrs S. T. Suit. Aids-Mrs. Senator Kenna, Mrs.
Commissioner Miller, Mrs. Commissioner j. A.
Sparks, Mrs A. r. Williams, Mrs. s. K. Hannegan,
Mrs. r. w. TOwnshend, Mrs. L. @. c. Lamar, jr.,
Lincoln and Mr.. Richard X. Tyler; Miss Anita
Hendr1e, and Mr.. JudsOn A. LamOn. The others
are.Misses Annie Meaehem, Maud Moore, Nellie
Annie Case, Emma HeatOn, Annie Heaton, Myra
Whitney; Messrs. Leonard Bradley, JAS H. Shat
fer, Norman Flemmihg, Clarence Doyle, Frank p.
| A RppSt6p N
Dudley, s. Taylor Grimes and VIM C. Prentice.
FLOWER DANCE.
Chairman: Mrs. II. G. Gibson. Atds-MrS r G.
Rutherford, Mrs. !. W. Tyler, Mrs. Green Clay
GOOdlOe, Mrs. j. R. Edmonds, Mrs. j. j. Bartlett
Mrs j. B. Haskins, Mrs Constantine Chase, Mrs.
Dancers: ROses-Misses Zuline Whitney Maud
Young, Bertha Bartlett, May Compton, Eliza
Mahon- ViOlets-MisseS May WOlf Bessie Smith,
Marian Worthington, Mamie Gelam, Jennie
peaehey and Lura Dyer: Poppies. Nor
TOwner, Ethel Graffan and Flora Lewis Daisies
Eta Rogers, Minnie Hutchinson Matte Gibson,
Pearl Houston, Emily Sherwood and Jennie Tyree
Bees-LOuise and Lizzie Widdecomb. Ermer Ruess.
Bertha PrentiSs, Maud Gorham, Lizzie Carver,
Mamie Erdman, Louise Powell, Maize Burnham,
Daisy sykes, Nellie Tally, Gertie Britain and Hat
tie Borland.
Chairman: Mrs. r. s. Stevens. Aids-Mrs. Repre-
sentative John Ellis. W. W. Dudley, Mrs.
F. c. Stevens, Mrs. Senator Henderson, Mrs
Marshal A. A. Wilson, Mrs. Representative
Benton McMillin. Dancers Leaders,: Mr.
Frank Erdman and Miss MOrtin, Miss
Freeman and Mr.. Heron. The rest are Misses
Mattingly, Oliver, Stacey Seawell, Fletcher, Stew
art, Bennett, Williamson, Hayener, CaSOn, Hem
drie Williams, Berlin, Yeager, MeSsrs. Selden, Oil
yer, Qu1bly, Darby, Lewis, Schwickardi, DunwOOdy
Horton, Parsons, Gibbs, Williams, Clark, Moore
and Robinson.
Chairman: Mrs. ThOs. Riggs. Aids-Mrs. Sen
ator Sabin, Mrs. General Starring, Mrs. Represen-
tiveSeymOur, Mrs. Reresentive Conger, Mrs
Representative MARKHAM. Mrs. SOuzade Mrs j. j.
Washburn and Mrs. Z. b. YOumans.
DancerS-LeaderS: Miss WaShburn and Miss
Riggs; Miss Bradford and Miss Richards The rest
are: Misses Van Zandt, Mary Van Zandt Hughes
Verdi, Gaines, Hill, owen, Dora Stearns wilson
Clinton, Shankland, Blair, Gibson, lincoln, Suli-
van, Voik, Chichester, Eaby, Houston and Mrs.
Lieutenant Gilmore.
'"The National Opera Company,
The organization having the above name which
will be remembered by the brilliant performances
OF grand opera in English given at Albaughs
Grand Opera House last May are about to re-
turn to Washington for season of one week
On Monday, January 31st the first performance
will be given by them at the same place The
opera selected for the opening performance is
Meyerbeer's "HuguenOtS,' followed successfully
nv ssFalSr ssAida svT'ha Eix-inr Dntohn,o,,